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Match to watch – Liverpool v Arsenal
For a time it was Manchester United. Prior to that date, the role was shared between Crystal Palace, West Ham, Southampton and Swansea. Sunday offers Arsenal a chance to bleed some noses and audition as Liverpool’s new ghost team.
The champions have been slowly and tentatively rebuilding any momentum lost in recent months, scoring one, two, three, four and five goals in their last five games. But a Premier League loss in North London, combined with a loss to the same team at Wembley six weeks later, betrayed more than a few cracks in the armor.
Arsenal know that both their hard-fought victory at the Emirates and the penalty shoot-out at the national stadium came with qualifications. Liverpool slowed down considerably after the restart and the Community Shield can be happily ignored if circumstances permit. Mikel Arteta and his players praise deserved and received that was accompanied by a “but” of self-recognition.
So this is an opportunity to make a statement that will not be muffled by the screams that Liverpool are not trying or that certain trophies are meaningless. Arsenal can make a clear marker of where they are at this point of the evolution.
And have no doubts: they are capable of keeping his perfect record while cutting Liverpool’s. Arteta has molded a stubborn and determined side of what he had left in December, adept at some wonderful things on and off the ball. This is a team that plays for its coach. There are few things more formidable.
Liverpool know and have harnessed that same power to become one of the best teams in the world. The abnormal nature of his first game against Leeds was soon lost amid a haze of freehold away from a supposed challenger to his throne. Chelsea had its moments, but those were the champions in their imperious prime.
Arsenal have yet to really tackle that incarnation of this team, but they need not fear the task ahead. They can hurt Liverpool. They can stop Liverpool. And the Reds could easily reduce another potential threat. It seems that there are more than three points at stake.
Player to watch: Thiago Silva
While much of the focus will be on who resides among the publications– or perhaps even the continued development of Kai Havertz, another fascinating Chelsea story could come to a definite conclusion this weekend. Thiago Silva must be in contention to start against West Brom.
Frank Lampard might be reluctant to throw him straight into the bottom of the Premier League, but the manager will also take into account what he described as a “perfect 60 minutes” for his new central midfielder.
“He can’t even speak the language right now, but that’s not even a problem because his presence and the way he commands the people around him is already showing it to me in training and in our game,” Lampard said of “a leader with authority” who impressed midweek against Barnsley.
It could honestly be the best time to introduce Silva – with Andreas Christensen suspended, Antonio Rudiger offside and Fikayo Tomori seemingly untrustworthy. Matheus Pereira and Grady Diangana will undoubtedly put a 36-year-old to the test who has yet to acclimatize to a different style and club, but a solid hour against Cauley Woodrow and Patrick Schmidt is great preparation for anything.
Manager to Watch – Chris Wilder
He could remain the safest coach in the Premier League in terms of job security. Sheffield United realizes it would risk a global incident by toppling Chris Wilder from his position on Bramall Lane. But he and they really could use reversing this decline.
Since September 2013, under David Weir in League One, the Blades had not suffered at least five consecutive losses in the league. For Wilder, one has to venture back to the Northampton days in the middle of the League Two table for such a run. Three losses at the end of last season and two at the start of this season leave both of them in relatively unknown territory.
Wilder has already accepted the need to “toughen up on some things” and “look at ourselves and do a lot better” before a “tasty” meeting with Leeds. It will be interesting to see how United don’t play on a Monday night, at least.
Only a fool would put the setbacks against Wolves and Aston Villa solely on the match schedule, but the Blades will be happy for any form of normalcy. Playing a weekend at Bramall Lane against a team they beat three times in four championship games could boost them.
It was Leeds who were moved to automatic promotion in 2019, thanks in large part to a 1-0 win at Elland Road in March. Wilder Pop At the “Leeds muppets” the following month, when his return to the Premier League was confirmed, he adds a bit of spice to the proceedings, although it should be noted that he and Marcelo Bielsa share a mutual respect.
“Listen, don’t mention anything about the bottle and the bitches or us dating,” Wilder added at the time. How he would leave to end this streak against that team.
Team to watch: Manchester United
The good news is that Manchester United won the title the last time they lost their first two Premier League games. The bad news is that 2020 is not 1992, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not Sir Alex Ferguson, Bruno Fernandes is not Eric Cantona and Ron Atkinson’s Aston Villa were not Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Solskjaer, who was outmatched by the oldest coach in the entire Football League, will face someone around his age on Saturday at lunchtime. Graham Potter will happily drive the knife further down and put on a charming smile as he does so.
But this game presents a curious scenario – imagine seeing without any context at all who the teams are and which coach is in charge, but knowing that one was appointed in March 2019 and given hundreds of millions to spend on a Champions League team with perennial title aspirations, while the other was an often-criticized option to replace a popular figure in the immediate aftermath of a battle for relegation months later and was asked to lead a stylistic transformation on a budget. It would be difficult to identify which is which.
He condemns Solskjaer and the United hierarchy that Potter and a club going in the same direction have managed to implement a sharper focus in Brighton in less time and with a fraction of the finances.
Defeat is almost unthinkable, although the concept of United being forced to panic last week from the transfer window armed with more money than sense is the opposite. Even a tie would add a few million to Jadon Sancho’s valuation.
However, there is already a sense that United need to win, beat a team that swept Newcastle aside and deserved more against Chelsea. Their schedule consigned them to a season of catching up; its shape could only compound that problem.
Football league match to watch: Bournemouth v Norwich
Watford’s first match against bitter rivals Luton in 14 years is the connoisseurs’ choice of the weekend, but those of us without imagination or charisma will take a look at the matches and be comforted by Norwich’s visit to Bournemouth.
Both will compete for an immediate return to the top flight. Bournemouth started with a 3-2 win over Blackburn and a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, while Norwich followed an opening 1-0 win at Huddersfield with a 2-2 draw against Preston.
His two Premier League games last season produced a total of one goal. On second thought, just follow Watford v Luton.
European match to watch: Roma – Juventus
Andrea Pirlo’s experiment had an ideal test subject in Claudio Ranieri’s bewildered Sampdoria last week. Cristiano Ronaldo shot with a usual late goal, but Aaron Ramsey, Dejan Kulusevski and Gianluca Frabotta got excited in Turin.
Roma will be a less welcoming opponent and therefore a more reliable barometer. They finished fifth last season at 16 for Sampdoria. But the demotion from a 0-0 draw against Verona to a 3-0 loss due to fielding ineligible Amadou Diawara should have some backing.
Matt stead
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